MPs to start public hearings on Affordable Housing Bill 2023 in 19 counties

The National Assembly is set to commence public hearings on the Affordable Housing Bill, 2023 next week.

The House through the Departmental Committees on Finance and National Planning and that on Housing, Urban Planning and Public works have lined up public meetings to jointly collect views from the public on the Bill across 19 counties, starting Wednesday January 17, 2024 for two weeks.

According to a program placed in the local dailies and shared across other communication platforms, scheduled hearings will see the legislators visit Narok, Embu, Kisii, Kirinyaga, Homabay, Kiambu, Vihiga, Machakos, Uasin Ngishu and Turkana Counties.

Other devolved units where lawmakers will collect views include Baringo, Nairobi, Wajir, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Tana River, Kilifi, Nairobi and Mombasa Counties.

National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula. Photo: Courtesy

The Affordable Housing Bill 2023 has already undergone the First Reading. The Bill was born out of the need to create a comprehensive framework for the Affordable Housing Program following a High Court order that declared the housing levy unconstitutional.

The Affordable Housing Bill (National Assembly Bill No. 75 of 2023) sponsored by the Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah seeks to provide a legal framework for the establishment of the Affordable Housing Fund, access to affordable housing and to give effect to Article 43(1)(b) of the Constitution on the right to accessible and adequate housing.

The Bill further seeks to impose the Affordable Housing Levy on Kenyans to finance the provision of affordable housing and associated social and physical infrastructure.

In anticipation of the scheduled public hearings, Ichungwah on Wednesday January 10 sought to clarify on the public hearings following a recent court order that had halted the public participation process.

Ichung’wah noted that the orders by the High Court only apply in respect to the conduct of public participation in the manner indicated in the public participation advert issued on December 9, 2023, but they did not entirely halt the public participation process.

“The orders did not prohibit Parliament from conducting any other form of public participation including undertaking public hearings across the country on the Bill, or the ordinary stakeholder engagements with key sectors, experts, workers, employers, informal sector, political parties, civil society and marginalized communities etc,” stated Ichung’wah.

The advertisement had requested the public to send their written submissions as opposed to the current methodology where lawmakers will directly go to the public to seek their views on the Bill.

The High Court sitting in Kisumu had last month issued conservatory orders stopping public participation on the Bill, until the matter is determined.

The orders were issued after litigants moved to court shortly after the two House Committees in a notice published in the dailies on December 9, 2023, invited the public and stakeholders to submit memoranda on the Bill.